The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1887-02-17
gallant who thus accosted her-to his infinite

surprise and CONSERVATION.
As a matter of course, Don Jesus followed
Juanita home, had found out all about her
family and herself within a couple of hours,
bear beneath her window-where, with the
first shadows Of the twilight she sat expecting
him. lie belonged to the same Casino club with
her brothers. and any man on earth but a Mex
lean would have gone to them and requested
an introduction to their sister. But that course
the romance of the thing at the outset, and win
only GOODNESS and Indifference from the lady.
So. according to the time-honored customs of
their ancestors from away back to the days of
the Alhambra,-the same by which his parents
and hers did their respective courtng-he slung
his guitar over his shoulder, and standing be-
meath her balcony proceeded to warble an end
less succession of ditties to her eyes ct ceterd.
For lovers who cannot warble it must be sad
drawback: but, happily, those unfortunates
are far more rare here than in our catarrhal and
country.
This ''making the bear is funny business. .
Why they call it so, l am unable to state-un-
less because those restless quadrupeds are sup
posed to be forever pacing to and fro. 1t con-
sistS in dancing constant attendance before the
lady's window for AS many months, or years. as
may be necessary before he can win her. Cen
orally he has no special acquaintance with the
maiden of his choice, and may not go boldly to
man, or press his Sunday ''suit" upon
her papa's parlor chairs; perhaps, at first, she
does not even know Of the existence Of an
adorer outside. So there is nothing he can do
but meander back and forth, day after day and
night after night, until he has succeeded in
attention Of the neighborhood as well, if not
that OF the police, the family bulldog, or pdter
1Umitids pistol.
Ii the damse's affections are not otherwise
bestowed, YOU may be sure she is not slow to
respond, for to her monotonOus and dreamy
romance comes as a boon from
heaven. When she begins to smile, though
never so coyly. upon him. he bolder grows and
tosse> bouquets between the easement bars
(when the old folk are not looking). by and by
with tender billet-douX hidden in their hearts,
like
"LOve among the roses"
She, secure behind the cruel bars or aloft upon
her balcony. leans forth in the moonlight Smil-
ing sweet responses to his serenades; or renders
him raplurous by improvisng Il lovers tele
graph with 4 spool of thread, by means of
which imprisoned messages may travel be-
tween them,or bouquets and other cages Fomor
be hauled up. Sometimes this sort of thing is
kept up for years. the faithful Romeo being
nightly found at his post
All this seems rather unsatisfactory to North
ern ideas; but it is to be presumed that if we
learned the way of Oliver Twist, we should
agree with our poetical neighbors that this
Spoonlng period is the happieSt season of life
the very >pring-time of love whose ideal joys
have no returning. Why should Romeo make
haste to brush the bloom from his peach when
neither earth nor heaven can restore it again!
TO him that slender string with a Iove-letter
tied to 1.-THE spool of thread by which she
winds up his vowS-s Jacobs ladder leading
straight to Heaven, and surely al angel is at
the end of it
During the months of Don Jesus bear
making, was about as constant i'm my atten,i-
ance at the window as Juanita herself. The
hrst twang of his guitar brought US simultane
ously into view, on opposite sides Of the street:
and a dlslntercSted observer, not seeing which
way the lovers eyes were turned, might have
been in doubt as to which was the object of
his musical devotions. How he did harp. over
and over, on La Golondrina'' (the swallow.
and MY heaven is in thine azure eyes. till
the wonder is that the strings. as we'll as the
patience of the neiyhborhood, were not quite
worn out!
The crisis of their fate came in church. and
It happened in this wise: During counting
lays it is astonishing how devoutlv religious
Mexican lovers become, attending church con-
>tantly and lettering in the plaza leading there
to--as these are about the only places where
they can hope to meet by day. In this Catholic
country, you know. the churches are open at
all hours, every day alike, from early mass to
evening vespers. Juanita suddenly began to
require the consolation of religion very early
in the morning. going always through the plaza;
lnd day afterday, by the first glmmcr of dawn
ng. Don Jesus might have been seen awaiting
her arrival in that tlowery trysting place. The
hours of sleep that l lost in following that
pair! Juanita's mother, or an
aged aunt. and Il servant always accompanied
her; but though the lovers never spoke. they
generally managed to pass one another pretty
loosely IN the narrow pathway, and occasional
y Juanita would fall behind, as by accident,
holding tiny hand at her back to receive the
inevitable lovc-letter.
And these were by no means the only lovers
encountered in my morning walkS-for literally
"The woods were full of them,'
the plaza ''woodS" mean: and as each de-
lin old sanctuary, venture to assert that
more living saints than dead ones We're wor-
shipped therein by kneeling youth.
1t happened one day in the midst of the Mass.
when the great Cathedral was crowded with
Norshippers and Juanita was present with her
family that The ardent Don Jesus forgot his
Usual discretion and was discovered by papa
sanchez in the very act of handing his daugh-
er billet-douN! Anywhere but in church
here would have been instant fumblny for
pistols, and perhaps tragedy-though p0ter
amut0s must long ago have guessed what was
going on; but while the people prayed. priests
;hanted and organ peale,i, the lovers skipped
out and Senior Sanchez pocketed the letter.
Then, as in honor bound, accelerated, per-
laps by fears of the duellng brothers, who,
however, appear not to have thought of such
| thing before), Don Jesus went straight to Il
mutual friend, who hicd him without delay to
)nanlta's parents, with formal proposal for
ler hand.
OF course the Sanchez family had long ago
,ound out all about the young man, and had
concluded to accept him for soil-in-law months
,efore he offered himself as such; yet the young
'olk must be duly narrowed and Il good deal of
ed tape gone through with, before the reluct-
mt consent which etiquette requires could be
obtained. If the idea of all this circumIocll-
ion is to enhance the lady's value in the eyes
II her lover, and to secure him more firmly
~ keeping hiip for awhile on
The tenter hooks of suspense,
t was certainly effective in this ease; for dur
ng the days when .Juanita was no longer ViSi-
Die at her window (being risidly secluded, and
possibly locked up), more wOc-begone and
liscOnsoate picture of human misery l never
saw than the formerly gay Roderiguez.
But at last the mutual friend, who acted well
he part of Japanese "go-between'' conveyed
10 the suicide-contemplatingD Don Jesus the joy
ful tidings that the stern parents had relented,
md the lovely and loving Juanita might be his
in due course of time. And then how he
smarted up! The brOadest sombrero | ever
saw, literally loaded with gold and silver, APP
peared upon his head when he made his first
,all and the extremely high and pointed heels
Of his brand new boots gave him the swaying
gait of a winged Mercury.
Now everything was lovely; the wedding
lay was quickly appointed, and the guardian
angel across the way. (myself, if you please,)
felt happy in their reflected joy. But since we
have already exceeded our allotted space, we
must defer an account of the wedding till an
other week. FANNIE b. WARD.
Good Templars.
Annual meetings of district lodges of Good
Templars will be held as follows: Kennebec at
Watervie, Feb. 23d; Piscataquis at FoNcroft.
March 1st; Northern Aroostook ut Fort Fair